


Temperature(Yes, that's a pun)

by sircantus



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Awkwardness, Cities, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Family, Father Figure, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Fun, Gen, Hotels, How Do I Tag, Humor, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I love that tag, Mother Figures, Mother-Daughter Relationship, No one seems to freakin' listen to them, Ridiculous, Superheroes, Superpowers, Supervillains, The power of friendship, Where are the laws in this universe????, thats a good tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-08-17 11:42:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16515782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sircantus/pseuds/sircantus
Summary: A girl who acquired ice powers in a scarring way currently lives with her kinda irresponsible mother figures and eventually becomes a superhero. She is determined to defeat the new big bad super villain in town, but the funny thing is, the super villain is such a mother hen.Basically, the super villain is sees this tween trying to stop him with her powers and is like, "You are much too young to do this, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE A VIGILANTE, nO yOU wILL NOt dO THAt."haha, just your normal super-villain superhero father-daughter relationship.





	1. Wait, you can WHAT now

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer that I suck at writing, so pls look over my mistakes, thank you vry much and enjoy my candy fueled (since I don't drink coffee) story.

“I won't let you!” Jessica screamed.

“Now, don’t make this difficult. Come now,” The social worker glanced around at the homeless people watching from around the alley. “This place isn’t a good home for you.”

“But-”

“This place is not suitable for a child with your sort of abilities, let alone your age. If you come with us, you can have a proper home-”

“This is my home.” Jessica said, spreading her arms to gesture around the dirty alley with faded tents here and there. The people who had become friends with Jessica over the month were poking their heads out of their tents into the cold winter night, wondering what was going on. 

The social worker looked around and frowned. “Honey, I know you want to stay with your friends, who I’m sure are very nice, but there’s no other choice here. You can’t stay.” 

The 9 year old clenched her hands into fists and stomped her feet. “NO! Go away!”

The social worker sighed, looking tired and fed up. “We’re going.” She grabbed Jessica’s arm with a steel grip and started to leave.

Jessica started screaming and resisting, but she was small, tired, and underfed. She felt tears prick at the edges of her eyes as the feeling of helplessness started to consume her. They were getting closer and closer to the women’s car. She couldn’t go with her, she couldn’t, if she did, she would end up back in the hands of them. She looked to her friends who lived in the alley, watching her get dragged away.

“Please! Please help! Don’t let her…” Her voice broke off with a sob as she dug her boots deeper into the snow. 

Suddenly, one of the people stood in the way of the social worker, stopping her in her tracks. Jessica was ripped away from her and saw her friends standing up and watching the social worker with anger and determination in their eyes. 

“Step away from that little girl! I’ll call the police on you all!” The women screamed, looking panicked as the homeless people slowly surrounded her. 

The social worker went to grab Jessica again, but she was tackled to the ground by Jim. Jessica liked Jim, he always smelled like peanut butter.

The person holding her whispered in her ear to run, then went to break the fight up. Jessica ran from the commotion into the cold night,wishing her friends could have a better life. 

 

5 years later~

 

“Will that be all, miss?” 

“Uh, yeah.” 

The cashier scanned the bag of hot Cheetos and looked back up to Jessica. 

“That’ll be 2.99.”

“Uh, okay. Lemme just…” The fourteen year old searched through her pockets, biting her lip.

She tried looking through her pockets in her faded purple jacket, but she found nothing. She looked through her old ripped jeans, nada. The cashier spoke up,

“Again?” The cashier, smirked, putting his arms on the counter looking a bit amused. 

“Nonono, I had some. Just, ah, hold on.” She started to look in her boots. 

“Listen kid, you gotta stop doing this.” their tone was annoyed but there was still a caring smile on their face. 

“I'm sorry, I could've sworn I had at least some money-”

“Just take it, squirt. But this is the last one, okay? Next time I'm turning you away.”

“You said that last time.” Jessica replied, a smirk on her face as she dragged the Cheetos off the counter.

“Yeah, yeah. Oh, that reminds me. Here.” He slid a piece of paper to her. 

She took it and raised an eyebrow at him, it had numbers on it. Wait is this-

“It’s my number. I want keep in touch with you, kid. You're the only customer here that doesn't completely annoy me to death.” He turned serious. “Also, I worry, you know? You can barely afford anything here most of the time, and it’s a dollar store.” 

Jessica put the number in her pocket. “I struggle. Thanks for the worry, but I don’t need it. I accept your friends request.”

“That’s weird way to put it, but okay.”

Jessica stuck out her tongue and walked out of the store. 

 

She walked out of the store, Cheetos in hand. She put her hood up, her ears cold thanks to the winter. She walked through the busy streets, bumping into people occasionally. Eventually, she got to a apartment building, but she wasn't here to get to a apartment. 

She picked the lock leading up to the roof, seeing as she didn’t have an apartment key, and went out onto the roof. Up there, on the top, there was a group of women smoking together. They noticed the 14 year old walking towards them.

“Hey twerp, those hot Cheetos you got there?”

“I'm not giving you any, Gloria.”

Gloria gave a pout in response. Jessica’s been staying with these women for about a month or so. Their names were Gloria, who was always wearing something sparkly and pink, Jennifer, who always fussed over the fact that Jessica was too skinny, and Annie, who was the only one out of the three of them that had her life together and was sarcastic about 63 percent of the time. 

“How has your day been?” Jessica asked, stuffing her face with Cheetos.

“Really kid? Those thing will make a hole in your stomach.” Jennifer made a tsk noise and frowned at Jessica, whose face was covered in Cheeto dust. “Oh for fuc- I MEAN, gods sake, clean your mouth.” Jennifer nagged walking over to Jessica to clean her mouth and to get away from Annie’s glare for swearing in front of the kid. 

Annie set her gaze on Jessica. “Hey Jessie, mind running an errand for me?” 

“What?” Jessie started to whine, “I just got back!”

Annie rolled her eyes and handed Jessica 20 dollars.  
“Yeah, whatever, go buy yourself a better jacket. “

Jessica instantly tried giving the money back. “Nononono, I'm not taking your money.” She pushed Annie’s hand away. “Even if you give me that mom glare.” 

Annie squawked. “It's not a mom glare!”

Gloria started snorting. 

“Sure it isn't.” Jessica said, stuffing her now empty bag of hot Cheetos into her pocket. 

Annie forced the money into Jessica’s hands. “At least get some gloves. You can give back the change.” 

Jessica threw her head back and sassed, but still went on her way to get some gloves.

 

TIIIIME SKIIIP(yeah I suck, watcha gonna do bout it?)

 

Jessica walked out of the store, new gloves on, and a bag of hot Cheetos in her hand. She walked towards the apartment building when she smelled smoke. Panic building in the center of her heart, she turned the corner to see the apartment building on fire. 

“No.” she whispered, and started sprinting to the building.

She stood with the crowd next to the burning building, listening in on their conversations and trying to keep an eyes out for her friends. 

“Oh dear, I heard that new Super Villain started this fire in order to escape the police,”

“Really? I never thought he'd actually cause any harm.”

“I think there was a group of women on the roof, oh they must be terribly scared.”

Having made her mind up, Jessica ran under the fences surrounding the building and sprinted through the grabbing hands of the police around her. She heard a few screams to not go in, but she just threw her Cheetos at an officer and ran inside.

The instant she ran in, there was smoke everywhere. She coughed, the smoke irritating her lungs,but she put her shirt over her nose and mouth and went straight to opening the windows and doors so the smoke would get out. Once the windows were open, she took a deep breath, choked because the room was full of FReaKIng SMOKE and that was a mistake. Once she got her breath back, she ripped her gloves off and threw them to the fire. Aw man, she just bought those. She raised her hands up, and focused. After a moment, everything started to freeze. Ice came out of her hands, landing spiky and cold, but effectively putting the fire out. She went around, freezing walls occasionally, but making her way to the roof. 

Eventually, she got to the top and found her three friends stuck on the roof. They were all looking off the roof, yelling to the crowd below. They didn’t notice Jessica yet. Jessica ran up to Annie, running into her and wrapping her arms around her waist. 

“Jessica! What are you doing here?!” Jennifer screamed, looking away from the edge. 

Annie patted Jessica’s hair, wrapping an arm around her, confused. 

“Weird, the fire’s out. But it was just blazing a second ago, and the firefighters just got here…” Gloria looked towards Jessica, seeming to put the pieces together.

“Jessica?” Annie asked, noticing that she had frost on her jacket.

Suddenly, the firefighter burst through the roof door, ready to assist the girls down and out of the building. 

“Do you know what happened?” Annie asked the firefighter.

“The fire was started a superpowered villain, ma'am. It’s oka-”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m asking. How was the fire put out?” 

“Er, we don’t know. There was ice everywhere when we came in, all we knew is that you ladies were up on the roof.” 

Annie glanced at Jessica, who was keeping her head down and holding Gloria arm.

When they got down, they were attacked with reporters. 

“Excuse me Miss, could you give us a comment on what you saw?” 

“Do you have an explanation for the amounts of ice found in the building?”

“Who were you saved by?” 

Annie stepped up and silenced the crowd with her glare.  
“We didn't see anything. There was fire, now there isn’t. That’s all.” She walked away with her hands on Jessica’s shoulders. Jessica felt tired. Terrified, sure, but mostly tired. 

 

After Annie had gotten them all a room together in a hotel, and sat everyone down on the beds, Jessica started groaning.

“What's up with you, kid?” Gloria asked, crossing her arms and trying to look serious. She failed.

“Er-” Jessica was cut off by the TV. Jennifer had turned it on and it was showing the news. They were talking about the fire they were just in, talking about a suspected new hero who had ice powers. 

Annie turned off the tv and turned to Jessica, crossing her arms successfully looking serious.  
“Explain this.”

Jessica groaned again and reached for her bottle of water. It froze the second she touched it. 

Gloria started screaming.

~~~~~~ 

“Wait.” Jennifer took her hands away from her mouth, “You ran headfirst into a fire?! What have I told you about danger?! To run away from it, not into it!” 

“You never bothered to tell us that you can control ice?! Was that just not important enough to mention?!” Gloria screamed.

“Hush.” Annie said,effectively silencing the room. “Why do you need to leave? Surely they don't know it's you, right? With all these superheroes and such running around.” 

“I need to go. If they were to to hurt you-” 

Jessica was cut off by Jennifer gasping, looking offended, Gloria saying “puh-lease!” and Annie rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, no. You stay with us, okay? All of this will pass. You’ll be fine, just don’t go being a vigilante.” 

Jessica didn’t respond and started thinking. She was exhausted from using her powers and didn't really feel like moving to another city again. Also, she was rather attached to her weird, kinda irresponsible mother figures. She laid down on the bed and sighed. They had a point. Also she hadn't even heard anything from those people ever since around two years ago.  
She sighed again. “Fine. Wake me up when the news stops talking about me.” and she flopped over and went to to sleep. She faintly heard Gloria saying, “That ain't gonna be for a while, sweetheart!” but she ignored it.

 

Jessica woke up to Gloria poking her repeatedly in the shoulder.  
“Hey, since you can freeze stuff, can you chill my beer?” 

Jessica hummed and turned around to tap Gloria’s beer, still half-asleep. She smushed her face into the pillow. 

“Hey! You froze it solid!” Gloria said, sounding annoyed. 

Jessica groaned into the pillow. 

“Oh well, I'll just break the glass.” 

Jessica heard the sound of glass breaking by the sink. 

The hotel room door opened, and Annie and Jennifer walked in, hands full with new groceries. Pretty much all their stuff was burned in the fire. 

“You better not be eating glass again, Gloria.” Annie said. 

“That was one time!”

“One time was still enough to make you go to the hospital!” Jennifer chimed in, walking to the bathroom and shooing Gloria out.

Gloria sat next to Jessica.  
“I was just breaking the bottle off my beer. Jessie froze it solid.”

“Sweet. Beer popsicle.” Jennifer yelled from the bathroom where she was fixing her makeup. 

“Honestly,” Annie started. “You people. And don't eat that around Jess, she shouldn't even be smelling that stuff. If you're going to lick your weird beer popsicle, go do it out on the balcony. “

Gloria humphed, then went out to go do just that. 

“I thought you guys would be more surprised at the fact I have I've powers.” Jessica said, sitting up to face Annie. 

“It's the year of 2018, baby! Equality! And all that.” Gloria yelled from the balcony, swearing about her blond hair getting on her beer popsicle. 

Jennifer whooped from the bathroom in agreement. 

“Ever since the first superpowered person came out and became public, it’s just kinda started to become normal. People don’t really care all that much, since now we have heroes to save us just like in the movies. It’s not that strange.” Annie said, stacking the food on the table. 

“I guess.” Jessica said, stretching as she got up from the bed. 

“Oh, I, uh, kinda lost the gloves I bought.”

Annie gave Jessica an unimpressed look, then said “Just buy some new ones, and the next time you run into a fire to be a hero, put them in your pockets.” 

Jennifer started squealing from the bathroom. She ran into the main room and jumped on the bed. 

“Do you know what this means?”  
She asked, bouncing a little on the bed. 

“What does it mean.” Annie said, exasperated.

“Jessica is a superhero! Now you can save this city from that new evil super Villain in town!” 

“You're in over your head.” Annie said, smacking Jessica in the face with a pillow. “She’s 14. You think just ‘cause she can freeze a beer bottle, she can stop the occasional crime here?”

“Why don't you ask her?” Jennifer asked, setting her gaze on Jessica, who was fiddling around with the tv. 

“What? I wasn't listening.” 

Annie sighed. “Don’t worry abou-”

“You should become a superhero!” Gloria yelled, coming back inside. 

“No, no, absolutely not. She doesn’t even know how to punch.” Annie said, her left eye twitching.

“Ooh, you could teach her!” Jennifer exclaimed, smiling wide.

“First rule of fight club,” Jessica started, jumping onto the bed with Jennifer and going into a fight stance, “Don’t talk about fight club.” She threw a mock punch at Jennifer, and the two started play fighting, giggling all the while. 

Annie groaned.  
Gloria grabbed a pillow and smacked Jennifer in the face to help Jessica win. “Pillow fight!” She exclaimed. 

They smacked each other with pillows, laughing and putting the superhero topic for later. Everything was going fine until someone *cough cough* GLORIA *cough cough* hit Annie smack in the face. She picked up a pillow and looked at them, eyes gleaming with determination. 

“Oh it’s on.”

 

They ended up breaking a lamp and very much annoying their neighbors. 

 

“Time for bed!” Annie said coming out of the bathroom in green sweats and a black tank top. Her short brown hair was ruffled, or as ruffled as it could be, seeing as she had a pixie cut. 

Gloria groaned into the floor, having already changed into pajamas similar to Annie’s, except for the fact they were bright pink with white polka dots.Her blond hair was thrown everywhere and was frizzy as ever. 

Jennifer went into the bathroom to change in her blue sweats and darker blue long sleeve, and hopefully to go fix her mess of brown hair. 

Jessica was already asleep on the floor, she had lost the pillow fight a long while ago. Annie went and nudged her with her foot, trying to wake up her up. 

“Jessica, Jessica, Jess, Jessie, wake up.”

Jessica groaned into the ground. “What.” She glared at Annie, wanting to be asleep. 

“Don’t you have any pajamas?” Annie asked. 

“No, they’re burnt.” She rolled onto her back to look at Annie. 

Gloria suddenly came back from the dead and shot up from the ground. “Ooh, I got something for you!”

She rummaged through the bag full of things they were able to salvage from the fire.  
“I got them for you a while ago, I just forgot to give them to you."  
She handed Jessica yellow sweats with black polka dots and a black sweater. Jessica looked up at Annie, her face pleading to just go back to sleep, but Annie just dragged her to the bathroom where Jennifer came out, looking fond at the fact that Annie was dragging Jessica to the bathroom by the legs. 

The pajamas were very oversized. Jessica feels like that was on purpose, then again, Gloria might have just grabbed the pajamas, thinking Jessica would have loved them instead of thinking if they would even fit properly. Jessica did love them though. She loves yellow. 

The sweatpants went past her feet, folding on the floor. The sweater was much too big, it covered her fingers and showed off most of her shoulders. 

“Awww, you look so small.” Jennifer doted, taking a picture.

“I want murder.” Jessica said, very much exhausted. 

“Oookay, time for sleep.” Gloria interrupted, now knowing that Jessie had powers and would very much use them for murder. “As there is two beds, Me and Annie will share the first one, and Jennifer and Jessica will share the oth-”

“I’m sleeping with Jessie.” Annie announced, taking her pillow and plopping down to where Jessica was half laying on the bed, her face smushed into the blankets. 

“Okay! Lights out.” Gloria turned off the lights, knowing that Annie was just worried about Jessica, but since she would rather die than admit that, she would just sleep next to her instead. 

The girls settled in and went to sleep.


	2. The Devil Works Fast, but the Internet Works Faster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty much just throwing together dialogue, details, and emotions, and hoping it makes a readable story. Ah well, I'm really only doing this for fun.

Jessica ran through the night, hearing cars drive through the streets around her. If she stayed in the alleyways, in the dark, she surely would be able to get to the forest. They wouldn’t find her there.

She feels a bit sorry for the women who was taking care of her. She would have said goodbye,or at least give her a warning, but she saw the signs, and ended up panicking and jumping out the window. Well.

She turned the corner, stopping at the side of the street. It was empty, which was bad. She quickly ran across, trying to get to the woods, but then lights blinded her. Bright, powerful lights, like from a truck. They knew she was going to the forest.

They walked out from the forest, cars pulling up behind her. She couldn’t move. She was terrified.

They walked closer, and closer, too close, too close, too close.

She wasn’t going with them.

One second, they were walking towards her, those burning, restricting bracelets in hand, the next, they were solid ice. Frozen in the street.

She couldn’t care, not right now. She ran to the forest, making sure to not stop moving until the sun came back up. Run, run, run, _run_ …

 

 

Jessica woke up suddenly, her eyes opening in a flash. She didn’t move an inch, but her heart was racing, and she was breathing a bit quicker than usual. She took note that Annie was holding her, fast asleep, and started to calm down.

It was early, a bit too early, seeing as it was still dim outside. Gloria was snoring.

Jessica slipped out of bed, going to the bathroom to change into regular clothes.

 

When she came out of the bathroom, the sun had come up a little bit more, and Gloria was still snoring. She threw a pillow at her to wake her up. Gloria shrieked as she was rudely woken up, and now everyone was awake.

 

“That wasn’t funny.” Gloria said later on, when they were in a Denny’s eating pancakes.

 

“I found it funny.” Annie responded, chewing her hash browns.

 

“It was kinda funny.” Jennifer smiled, only the slightest guilt in her features.

 

Gloria humphed, and pretended to be irritated.

Jessica gobbled down her scrambled eggs, looking through the news on Annie’s phone. She didn’t have one, but she had an inkling that the girls were going to get her one for Christmas. She scrolled through twitter, seeing that #Superhero was trending for what seemed like the thousandth time. However, when she scrolled more, she found that #Flame was trending as well.

 

“Huh.” She said, reading the articles.

 

“What, a new superhero? Please tell me they don’t have a cape.” Gloria said, seeming to not be mad any longer. (Though it’s debatable if she ever was)

 

“Nah, new super-villain, it seems.”

 

“Really?” Annie took the phone from Jessica. “Flame is the best they could make up?”

 

“Technically, the public named them, not the super-villain themselves.”

“We know new superheroes are on the horizon with more and more super-powered people coming out everyday,” Annie read from an article. “But that brings up the question, will super-villains also be on the rise? While we may have new heroes to save us, will this make crime increase dramatically, or the opposite?”

 

“I’m honestly just surprised it took this long for a super-powered to want to take over the world.” Gloria said, eyes flickering to Jessica.

 

“I’m not taking over the world, Gloria. Too much work.” Jessica said, leaning her face on her hand.

Annie continued.

“Lately, a new super-powered has come out in Redding city, burning down an apartment building, yadda yadda, yeah, we were there. Okay, “ Annie skimmed through the rest of the article. “This dude has fire powers, described to be 6’0, has red hair, strangely, and is always seen in a suit.”

 

“Classy.” Jennifer snickered.

 

“A suit? How do you think he wakes up in the morning? Ah, yes, time to do some crime. What color shall my tie be today?” Gloria talked in a ridiculous deep voice.

 

Jessica snorted.

“Red shall do. Perfect, time to rob a-” Gloria burst out laughing, not being able to hold it in any longer. Everyone was laughing.

 

 

Then the store across from the Denny’s caught on fire.

 

 

 

 

  
“Oh fuck!” Jennifer swore, standing up and holding onto Jessica, who was trying to look out the window.

Jessica slipped through Jennifer’s arms, putting her face inches away from the window. The store was a typical grocery store, the guy who owned it was a bit weird, but still nice.

Annie left a 20 dollar bill on the table and stood up.

 

“Come on, I think “Flame” has shown up.”

 

Annie took Jessica’s hand, and started to walk towards the back door. Jessica looked back at the window, heart heavy.

 

“Hey, Gloria...What was that you said about being a superhero..?” Jessica said softly, still staring at the window.

 

“I partly take blame for this.” Gloria announced, face panicked.

Jessica ripped away from Annie, and launched herself through the window with ice.

 

“I’m going to slap you when this is all over.” Annie threatened, glaring at Gloria.

 

 

 

When Jessica crashed through the window, she has to admit, she has no idea what she’s doing.

Sure, she has ice powers, and sure, she put out that fire last time, but this was such a stupid idea.

Oh well.

She ran into the burning building, calming the fire with her ice. She squinted through the smoke and yelled out. Nothing.

She ran around until she heard a gunshot from the backroom. She jumped over the counter, sprinting into the backroom. First, she saw that the room was very much on fire. But then, she saw across the room, holding the owner by the neck with fire in his other hand. There was a gun on the floor.

Tall, suit, fire, weird red hair. And a deep red mask, that looked like a flame over his eyes. Flame. It was the Flame.

Time for action, she supposes. Jessica pulled up her hood, and froze half the wall, cutting the fire off.

“Flame, right?”

The masked man’s head whipped towards Jessica, surprise in his features. He hesitated for a split second, then let go of the store owner, and ran out the backdoor.

 

"Wait, I would like a word with you!"

 

She quickly ran after him, stopping to check if the owner was okay. There was still a pulse. He’s okay. She dragged him out into the alley way, making a ring of ice around him.

Then she ran after the Flame.

He was climbing the fire escapes, trying to get to the roof.

Jessica launched herself up with a ice spike and landed right in his path.

 

“Hi? Yes, we need to talk.”

 

“I disagree.” He responded, his voice cold. He ran towards Jessica at full speed, and pushed her to the floor. She quickly ran after him. He got onto the roof, running to the edge, trying to get away.

He stopped right at the edge, turning around and glaring at Jessica through his mask.

 

“Give it up, sir! You could have killed that man down there! This is a serious crime!”

 

“Believe me, he would have deserved it.”

 

Jessica walked closer to him, putting him at the corner of the building. Now she was also at the edge of the building. She glanced down, seeing a crowd of people watching. There was a couple of people recording, and they were pointing and murmuring.

So much for doing this quietly. She was so going to be trending by next week. It’s not everyday you see a _kid_ superhero fighting a powerful super-villain.

Then again, it’s not everyday you see a super-villain. Man, the superhero movies really did lie.

A helicopter flew over them, the wind making it hard to keep her hood up. She wanted her identity to be a secret, just for now.

A rope fell from the helicopter, and the Flame grabbed on, wrapping it around his wrist. He climbed up the rope, and the helicopter started taking him up. Jessica tried going after him, but even she knew it wasn’t common sense to throw yourself at a villain. She made a ledge of ice on the side on the corner of the roof, to try and reach for the man, but he was already too far.

 

“You know, “ The man yelled over the roar of the helicopter. “That was actually a bit impressive. Maybe next time.” The helicopter flew off, and Jessica stood there, feeling annoyed.

 

Couldn’t forget about the crowd. Now there was really a crowd, and boy that was a lot of phones recording. Jessica pulled the hood over her eyes a little bit more and faced the crowd.

 

“Don’t worry, the owner is okay.” She deepened her voice a little bit so it wasn’t completely obvious who she was.

 

She started to turn around, ready to sneak her way back to the Annie and the others, but then a person yelled out from the crowd.

“Who are you?”

She turned back around, a bit anxious. Haha, how funny would it be if she just said Jessica. Boy would Annie murder her.

“Hm, just a person who wanted help. You want a superhero name, then go ahead and give me one. Tootles!”

And with that she ran off to get back to the hotel, and videos of her speaking were posted.

She started trending within a hour.

 

 

When she got back into the hotel room, the girls were already there, arms crossed, and lectures ready.

 

“What. Is this.” Annie said, holding out her phone.

 

It was a post that had around million likes. It was a photo of her and the Flame on the roof, facing each other. She noticed that she had frost on shoulder and arm in the photo, and frost had grew onto the spot she was standing on. Huh. She didn’t even realize she half-froze the roof. The caption was the usual “Omahgod, NEW SUPERHERO????!!!!” but it had a sentence that stood out to her.

 

“If a young superhero is going to facing THE Flame, then we need to support her! #SupporttheFrost”

 

The Frost. That was quick.

“Well? What do you have to say for yourself, _Frost?”_

 

She glanced up from the phone to Annie. Ohhhh no, she was definitely mad.

 

“All is forgiven?”

 

“Take another guess.”

 

“That was dangerous! He’s an actual super-villain, and you’re a teen! What made you think you could take him!?” Annie yelled.

 

“Not to mention you were on the ROOF. How easy would it have been to attack you and push you off?” Jessica added.

 

“What are you going to do now? Go after him again? What were you even thinking?” Gloria asked.

 

They kept making more and more points as to why what Jessica did was so dangerous, a lot of them being her age, and by the time they calmed down, Jessica was a puddle of guilt on the floor.

Annie sighed.

 

“At least you won’t do it again. Right?”

 

Jessica didn’t respond.

 

_“Right?”_

Silence.

 

“Jessica!”

 

“I-” She picked herself from the floor. “But I saved him.”

 

Gloria made a weird face.

 

“Saved who?”

 

“The owner. Of the store? He would have burned in the flames if I wasn’t there! Think about everything else I could do for people if I just-”

 

“No, no, no.” Annie cut her off, shaking her head in her hands.

 

“What did we just talk about? You are a child! You can’t just- Ahg!” She threw her hands up in frustration.

 

“Annie, listen.” Gloria said.

 

“Jessica’s stubborn. And now that this idea is in her head, she will not let go of it, even if it kills her. “

 

Annie slouched.

“So we either try to work with this, and at the very least make it safer going out and fighting, or we try to keep her from doing this, and watch her jump out the window at midnight to sneak out and try to fight. Your choice.”

 

“But I don’t want her fighting!” Annie yelled.

 

“You think any of us do? But you know her. Come on, look at that face. She’s being stubborn on this.”

 

Jessica was a bit annoyed they were talking about her when she was _right_   there, but they were saying the truth. She felt that she needed to help now, even more since people now thought she was going to be facing the Flame. Shouldn’t she be helping then? It would be just selfish to stand by and watch a building burn with people inside when she was right there, able to help.

 

“Fine.” Annie said, annoyed. Oh, Jessica definitely missed most of that conversation by running around in her thoughts.

Annie turned to Jessica.

 

“But, we are having rules about this. First, you’re grounded.” Jessica tried protesting, but Gloria shut it down by smacking her in the shoulder. “Second, you are starting self defense classes tomorrow. I’ll also be training you, so prepare for pain.” Jessica wanted to whine, but she was the one who wanted to fight a villain head on and win, so yeah that was probably essential. “And third, you need a mask. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to be stopped in the street constantly and be attacked by criminals who think they can take you on.”

 

Jennifer hugged Jessica tight. “Well, we’ll work on the details later. Time for ramen and rest. Also, you’re frosting the floor.”

 

Jessica looked to the ground. Whoops.

 

  
The day after that, Annie signed up Jessica for private sessions with a trainer.

 

“So, why do you want to try this out?” The trainer asked, friendly.

 

“Uhhh.”

 

Annie stared at her. Well she wasn’t helping.

 

“I need to know how to fight?”

 

“Really? You’re young. I don’t see why. Bullies?”

 

“Something like that.”

 

“Ah, don’t worry, you’ll be scaring them off in no time with your skills.”

 

Annie smiled at Jessica, hugging her from the back.

 

  
Gloria easily took up the position of making Jessica something to fight in, and quickly threw together an outfit.

Jessica didn’t see the point in fashion, so simple it was. Converse, black pants, and a simple loose blue hoodie. However, Gloria insisted on giving her a symbol, so she sewed a bright white snowflake into the back of her hoodie, and gave her black finger-less gloves with blue snowflakes on the back of them.

 

Sweet.

 

She got a simple pale blue mask that looked a little like the Flame’s but it looked a little like frozen fractals. It covered the top half of her face, and she thought it looked it little stupid. But she didn’t really care, so there it was.

About 2 weeks and a half later, Jessica was sore from training, but wanted go out and help. She threw on her hoodie, and put on her mask, ready to jump off the balcony.

 

But then Annie stopped her and gave her a plan on what to do. Which was good, because honestly, Jessica was just gonna wing it.

Annie had lots of friends around the city, and she was able to get a walkie talkie from the police station. So Jessica started it off with a robbery.

 

She was easily able to jump from rooftop to rooftop, and she would launch herself with a blast of frost for the long jumps. People easily noticed her moving around, and yup, those were cameras.

She can see the captions on Instagram now. “Cute new outfit!!! 💙💙💙” with the usual hashtag, support the Frost.

 

When she got to the bank, she saw that they had guns. She slipped in, and pretended to be a scared civilian, hiding her mask, because that was suspicious.

The person next to her went completely still, then very softly whispered to her.

“Are you Frost?”

Jessica turned her head the slightest bit to the person. It was a full grown adult man, yet he was so excited. Well, that’s nice.

“Yeah.”

“Holy fucking shit.” He breathed out, and huddled into the floor, seeming to wait for her to take action. And she did.

One of the employees were struggling, and she saw the men raise up the gun to shoot.

She quickly got up from the floor, and froze the man with a gun to the wall.

 

“Who the hell are you?! One of the robbers yelled, bringing out a knife.

 

“Frost, according to the internet.”

 

She froze his hand to the wall, then his leg. Then she blasted the third guy over the counter. She jumped onto the counter, seeing if she was down, but was then tackled to the floor by him.

She kneed him in the chest, then threw a punch at his face. He seemed surprised at the fact that a young kid could throw such a strong punch, and was distracted for a few seconds, which was all she needed to slip away from him and freeze him to the floor.

She ran outside, because she knew there was probably a get away guy, and saw the police. They froze, not sure if they should attack her or help her, but Jessica didn’t really care.

 

She launched herself over to the other side of the street with a ice spike and landed on a black van. A man came out, his hands up, yelling that he surrendered. Bingo.

She went up to the roof, and saw that there was once again another crowd. She stood in place for a few seconds on the roof, letting them snap a photo, then waved and ran off.

She was pretty satisfied, if she said so herself.

 

 

 

  
Somewhere else, in a grand expensive mansion, a certain Flame and his butler watched Jessica fight in the bank from the cameras.

“James, what the hell is this small child doing.”

 

“I am not sure, sir. Fighting crime, perhaps?”

 

The Flame ignored James' sarcasm. “But she’s so tiny.”

 

“Sir, she’s most likely a teen. And trained by the looks of it.”

 

“Uhg, but-” He stopped talking as he saw Jessica get tackled onto the floor.

 

“Okay, That’s way too dangerous. Where are her parents?!”

 

“Orphan, maybe?”

 

“Ah great, now I’m going to have to try and make sure she doesn’t kill herself.”

 

“You don’t have to, sir.”

 

“No, I’m gonna.”

 

He stood up from the seat and walked away from the screens.

 

“And for the last time James, just call me Aiden. Sir makes me feel 30.”

  
  
“Of course, Aiden.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's Aiden, aka the Flame, and his trusty butler, James, who would throw himself off a cliff for Aiden. Yayyyyy. Also James was the one who was in the helicopter. Also also, Aiden isn't a red head, he dyed it red because he finds it funny.


	3. The Start of a Reluctant Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so productive today, it's delightful. Anyway, enjoy the story.

              “No, no, I’m just looking for a place to stay for a little while.” Jessica waved her hands, stepping away from the concerned adult.

 

“Are you sure? I mean, your parents must be so worried. Maybe I should call child services…”

 

“Uh, no! I’ll just be on my way.” And Jessica ran down the street, ignoring the woman calling her.

 

She slowed down after a few minutes of jogging. Where was she going to go? Most people instantly want to go to authorities when they see she’s all alone, but _those_ people would probably find her if authorities were informed. 

 

She passed a homeless shelter, eyes stuck on it for a bit before moving on. Then she stopped walking and backtracked quickly. Yeah, okay, that could work.

 

When she went in, she stuck with this one man named Cole. He was quiet, but didn’t mind keeping Jessica around. But then one day Cole decided to start asking questions.

 

He kept asking where her parents were, her age, anything. 

 

Eventually she just snapped and told him to shut up. 

 

“Honestly kid, I just wanna know. I’m a bit worried.” Cole said after she calmed down from her outburst.

 

Jessica was silent.

 

“Can’t you just tell me something? I won’t tell nobody.”

 

After a while Jessica sighed, and went back to her annoying self.

 

“Yeah, yeah, give me an interview, why don’t ya.” She said  sarcastically. 

 

“Where are your parents?”

 

“Dead.”

 

“Aw hell, I-I’m sorry for pestering you about it so much, I-”

 

“They were murdered when I was young, let’s move on.” Jessica ignored the fact that she already  _ was  _ young. 

 

“Where are you from.”

 

“I dunno.”

 

“Got any other family?”

 

“I dunno.”

 

“Why aren’t you in a orphanage?”

 

Jessica huffed through her nose. “If I go there, then…” God, she hopes that this guy can be trusted. “The same people who murdered my parents will probably find me.”

 

Cole was quiet for a while. “What kind of life are you living, kid.”

 

“An extravagant one. Now let’s just sleep.” 

 

Later that night, someone broke into the homeless shelter. They tried attacking Jessica. They got Cole instead. 

  
  


Later, when the 11 year old was walking down the street, having slipped out from the homeless shelter during the commotion, Cole’s blood barely noticeable on her coat, she wondered if Cole was to blame for that. 

 

Or maybe it was her fault.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Jennifer kicked the door open, making a grand entrance like she always does. 

 

“Guess what we diiiiid!”

 

Jessica groaned from her hotel bed, cranky from being waken up. “You blew up something?”

 

“No, not this time.” Annie said, following behind Jennifer. 

 

“Then what.” Gloria said, trying to bury her face in the covers. 

 

“We got a apartment.”

 

That had Jessica’s attention. She whipped her head up from the bed, face perplexed. 

 

“What? But, how did you have enough money? I thought that you guys were struggling a little…”

 

“Haha, yeah...but well, I got a raise at my job, and Annie took up writing again. She released her book a while ago and it’s been selling well so, surprise!”

 

Gloria sat up and stared at the two of them. “Wait, so, we have another home?”

 

“Home.” Jessica murmured under her breath. 

 

No one noticed how affected she was by this. 

 

“Yeah, except this one is way better than the other one. Come on, start packing.” Jennifer said, taking the blanket from Jessica, ignoring her protests of how she was cold. 

  
  
  
  


Later, after they dragged all their stuff out of the hotel room and stuffed it into the car they had. Except Jessica noticed that this one was way newer. 

 

“Annie, what happened to your other car?”

 

“Traded it with some other guy, he said that he had to get rid of this one because he lost a bet. He didn’t seem so sad though, so I have no regrets taking his car.”

 

Jessica liked this one, it was more spacious and clean. The heaters were way better than the last one and the color was a lovely blue. They all piled in and drove to the new apartment. 

 

This one  _ was  _ better than the last one. It was spacious, the furniture was modern, and it had a  _ view.  _

 

There were two bedrooms, which meant Jessica was going to be sharing with someone, which she didn’t really care. 

 

It was a really nice place to live, but one question kept scratching her head. 

 

“How did you guys afford this?” Jessica asked, looking out the window from the sofa. 

 

“Psh, we already told you that.” Annie said, looking through the cabinets. 

 

“But… I mean, you couldn’t have possibly gotten all of this with your salaries, no offence.”

 

“None taken, but yeah, it’s surprisingly cheap. I dunno, I suggest just being grateful.

 

Jessica hummed and went off to her room.

 

She stepped into her room then the thought slapped her. Her room. When’s the last time she’s had a room that felt like she could stay forever? Or rather, a home?

 

She slid to the floor, back against the wall. She hadn’t even noticed the fact that she’s been closer with these women than any other people. It’s just crazy. 

 

Jennifer walked into the room. 

 

“Hey kid, looks like we’re gonna be roommates, how ‘bout it- YOU’RE CRYING, WHAT’S WRONG?” 

 

Jessica sobbed a little that night. Needless to say, she definitely gave Jennifer a heart attack.

  
  
  
  
  


A few days later, Jessica went out on patrol again. She didn’t really go out that much, training was important since she didn’t really know how to fight, so she put all her time into that.

 

She sat at the edge of a building, munching on a sandwich. Jennifer’s been making her lunch. Which reminds her, they ran out of eggs…

 

“Nice outfit, you’ve upgraded.”

 

Jessica turned around in surprise, nearly dropping her sandwich. 

 

There, on the building next to hers, not too far, but far enough, was the Flame. He looked smug. 

 

“Er,” Jessica looked down at herself. Honestly she could look like a normal civilian if it weren’t for the mask and the snowflake on her back. It really wasn’t that impressive. “Thanks, I guess.”

 

“How have you been?” Flame said, sitting at the edge of his building, still far enough to get away at any point.

 

_ Nope. _

 

Jessica threw the remains of her sandwich at him. He dodged with a yelp. 

 

“What did  _ I _ do?” 

 

“Oh, I dunno, set a building on fire? Nearly killed a person? You’re a villain! Why should you be treated like a old friend just cause you’re nice to me?”

 

Flame had a slightly offended expression under his mask.

 

“I am trying to be  _ polite.  _ How dare you throw your sandwich at me, it’s such a waste of food.”

 

“Hey, do me a favor.”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Go turn yourself into the police.” Jessica said, turning towards him, criss crossing her legs.

 

He frowned, bringing one leg up. “Listen, that man really did deserve what was coming to him.”

 

“He hadn’t done anything wrong.”

 

“Like hell he did. But with enough bribery, any police officer overlooks his mistakes.”

 

He turned towards Jessica, slightly tilted. “Maybe you don’t approve of the way I do things, but I don’t see any other way to bring him to justice.”

 

“There’s always another way.”

 

“Sure there is.”

 

They sat in silence for a little while, coexisting.

 

“Ah, well,” The Flame said, standing up. “It doesn’t matter much, I have a whole other list of people to bring to justice. Who knows, maybe I’ll see at the next… meeting.”

 

Jessica narrowed her eyes, and stubbornly said nothing. 

 

Flame stared at her for a bit, seeming to want to say something, but then seemed to decide against it. 

 

“Welp, see you around, Frostnip.” and he fell over the edge of the building. 

 

Jessica screamed and looked over the edge, heart pounding.

He had slowed down his fall with fire, and landed on a car, getting in from the sunroof. But before he climbed in, he looked up at Jessica and yelled to her.

 

“Aw, you _do_ care!” Then the car drove away with him inside.

 

Prick. 

  
  
  


Later that night, she told the girls about her meeting with him. 

 

“You should have attacked him, threw an icicle at him, something! That was your chance!” Gloria said, mixing the soup she was making.

 

“He knew what he was doing, sitting far from you. He probably just wanted to see what you were all about, you’ve been going viral pretty much everywhere.”

 

Jessica pulled her hoodie tighter over her head, groaning. “He’s so mean! I mean, yeah, he’s dangerous, sure, and I’ll fight him any day to get him to the police, but honestly he’s just a smug meanie who acts like he knows everything.”

 

“Do you think there’s another way?” Jennifer asked, pausing the TV from the couch. 

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, like you said to him, there’s always another way. He doesn’t seem to think that. Maybe you could convince him to follow the law instead of fighting him constantly to get him behind bars.”

 

Jessica flipped her mask around in her hands. “Maybe.”

 

“It’s just a thought.”

 

Gloria slammed the pot of soup on the counter. “I, for one, think you should kick his butt!”

 

Annie snorted, and laid down next to Jessica on the couch, pulling her hoodie down. “Whatever, deal with this stuff later, go to sleep.” 

 

“Wha- why?!”

 

“Jess, it’s night.”

 

Jessica grumbled, but went to go to sleep anyway. But only because she was tired, not because she was told to. 

Later that night, Annie went down to the lobby to ask a question to the people who owned the apartment building. 

 

“Excuse me, who’s paying for our apartment?”

 

“What number is it?”

 

“322.”

 

“Well, it’s mostly being paid by Aiden Wells.”

 

“Aiden Wells? Who is that?”

 

“Oh, a billionaire who donates around the city here and there, he’s very appreciated.”

 

“Do you have a photo of him?”

 

“Ah, it’s a bit outdated, as no ones seen him in over a year, but there’s one right here.” The woman showed a picture on her phone, a well built man with brown eyes. His haircut looked familiar. 

 

“Oh, thanks.”

 

Annie walked away, a question on her mind. Wasn’t that the same man who also traded the car with her? Annie didn’t believe in coincidences. Something’s up.

  
  
  
  
  
  


Somewhere, in the same mansion from before, there was a very conflicted Flame talking to his butler. 

 

“You should have seen her, James! She’s even tinier than I thought! I mean, the first time I saw her, I didn’t think much of it, but she’s too little for this!”

 

“Sir, she’s  5’5.”

 

“And I’m 6’2!” Aiden paced around, his tie undone and his shirt unbuttoned.

 

“A-” He broke off with a chuckle. “And even better, she threw her sandwich at me!”

 

James snickered silently.

“I know you’re laughing at me, James.” Aiden sighed. “She’s so difficult. I was being _nice_ , what else does she _want?”_

 

“Well, you did set a building on fire and have a reputation of being a villain, sir.”

 

“Psh,  _ besides _ that, I was striking up a perfectly good conversation.”

 

“You are technically her rival, sir.”

 

“Ugh, I have this small, defenseless, feisty child as  _ my _ rival? She better be honored.”

 

“I’m sure she is, Aiden.”

 

Aiden flopped onto his floor, anxious.

 

“She shouldn’t be out doing this. What if I end up killing her?”

 

James walked to Aiden and kneeled down to him. “Well, if you’re worrying this much about this, then I’m sure you won’t.”

 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He said dropping the worry.

 

“I usually am.”

 

Aiden closed his eyes, and rolled over. This kid was going to be a bit of an annoyance. Surely she’d give up after a while though. Well, only time would tell. 

 

“Sir, please don’t fall asleep on the floor.”

 

“Hush James, I’m sleeping.”

  
  
  
  
  


Jessica patrolled the next night, going through the city. She landed by an alley, changing into a different hoodie and putting away her mask. She wanted to check on that man from the fire before. He had come back to the shop, and was working again. 

 

She walked through the door, the bell dinging. No one was inside, for it was late. The man was putting something away behind the counter. 

 

“Ah, I was just about to close up shop, you came just in time.” He said, his smile a bit weird.

 

“Oh, I just wanted to come and see if you were okay. You recovering from the fire and all…”

 

“Aw, thank you for worrying, I really am quite okay.” 

 

Jessica walked up to him, leaning her arms on the counter.

 

“So the Flame attacked you? Must have been scary.”

 

“Yes, yes, but I am all good now! It’s gonna take more than that to put this ole geezer down.” He grinned and put up a fist. 

 

Jessica smiled.

 

“You know what? Here, for being so nice,” He walked over to a freezer and pulled out a coca cola. “On the house.” 

 

“Oh… thanks.” Jessica opened it and drank some, smiling politely and standing up to leave.

 

“Bah, drink some more, be a little grateful.” 

 

Jessica felt a little bad, and raised the drink up to her mouth. But before she could a take another sip, she heard a voice.

 

“Don’t you dare take another sip of that, snowflake.”

 

Jessica turned quickly around to see the Flame standing by the doorway. But she had turned too fast and was dizzy. She keeled down.

 

“Don’t you know to not take food from strangers? Could be drugged.” Flame glared at the store owner, going to help Jessica up. 

 

Jessica blinked, trying to get out of her daze. Drugged. The drink was drugged. What would have happened if the Flame wasn’t there?

 

“Here I thought my warning before would make you stop, old man.” The Flame said, picking up Jessica, who was seeing the world spin around her. 

 

He turned to the owner and grinned. “I guess I’ll have to just kill you then.”

 

“You-You-I’m calling the police! You _villain!”_

 

“I guess I’m a villain, in the sense that I break tons of laws and murder at times, but don’t worry, it’s all in good cause.”

 

Jessica wasn’t sure if Flame was talking to her or the man. 

 

“I- Please. I’ll never do it again. Never, I won’t even touch another child. Just let me live.”

 

Jessica felt as if she was going to pass out. Which wasn’t exactly good, because she was still being carried by the Flame, but he was helping her, wasn’t he? So with that thought, Jessica decided to trust him, just for a little while. She fell in and out of consciousness. 

 

“Yeah, first of all, I don’t believe you. Not one bit.”

 

Jessica felt her head lean to the Flame. Her eyelids were so heavy.

 

“Second, you tried getting  _ this  _ child. I can’t really forgive that.” And with that sentence, Jessica felt heat, then nothing as she passed out. 

  
  
  
  


Jessica woke to the Flame walking down the street, still carrying her. 

 

“Did you do it?” She murmured, tired.

 

“Hm?”

 

“Didja kill him?” 

 

The Flame huffed, smirking. “I’m afraid that I did. Don’t worry, he deserved it.”

 

Jessica looked up to the stars.

 

“I guess so.”

 

Flame walked up to the apartment building, stopping in front of it. 

 

“Can you walk?”

 

“Mhm.”

 

“That’s not a definite answer.” 

 

Jessica didn’t respond.

 

Flame looked down to see she was still awake but was just staring at the stars. He looked up to the stars too. He didn’t see what was so interesting about them. 

 

“Thanks, I guess.”

 

Flame looked back down to Jessica. ‘I guess?’ Uhg, teenagers these days.

 

“Was nothing, I was planning on going after him again, anyway.”

 

“Hmh.”

 

“Kid, you should really be going now, if you’re, er, friends see me carrying you, then I’m quite sure I’ll get punched.”

 

Jessica blinked a couple times, processing what he said. “Oh, okay.”

 

Flame made no move to put her down. “Yeah, okay,  no, I don’t trust you to not fall to the floor when I put you down. I’ll just walk you in.”

 

“Hm. Watch out for Annie then.” 

 

The Flame sighed. “You crazy child.” And he walked into the lobby. 

  
  
  
  


Annie instantly panicked internally when she saw a sleeping Jessica being held by Flame. But the Flame didn’t answer any of her constant questions and gave Jessica to her, trying to walk away. 

 

Gloria didn’t have any of it and dragged him into the apartment.

 

Oh he’s so screwed, all because of this damn child. 

 


End file.
